PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. – When the Central Arizona College women’s basketball team battles Chandler-Gilbert on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. in the George Young Activity Center, the two teams will be fighting on the same side to help slam dunk breast cancer.

“Proceeds from snack bar sales and a raffle will go toward the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund,” Jeff Thies, Central Arizona College’s athletic director, said. “Pink ribbons will be distributed at the game, teams will be wearing pink socks and shoelaces, and a pink ball will be used at the tip-off. We are asking people to think pink when planning an outfit on Wednesday.”

The event is part of a global movement by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and its WBCA Pink Zone™ initiative to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and around the world.

The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone™, formerly known as "Think Pink," in 2007 when more than 120 schools unified to make the inaugural year a success.

In 2008, over 1,200 teams and organizations participated, reaching more than 830,000 fans and raising over $930,000 for breast cancer awareness and research. This year the WBCA Pink Zone™ is being held throughout the country during games played February 13-22.

The demon of breast cancer hit home on January 24, 2009, when Kay Yow, the former North Carolina State University head women's basketball coach, passed away.

Yow was a past president and founding member of the WBCA who originally was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. She died after facing her third bout with the disease.

In her 38 years as a head coach at the collegiate level, Yow was one of only six Division I head women's basketball coaches to achieve 700 career victories. She also served as the head coach of the 1988 US Olympic Team that won the gold medal in Seoul.

The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund™ was announced on December 3, 2007, during the Jimmy V Classic and, in partnership with The V Foundation for Cancer Research, will raise money in the fight against women's cancers.

The Jimmy V Classic and V Foundation are named after the late Jim Valvano, the former North Carolina State head men's basketball coach who also passed away from cancer.

(Editor’s note: Information provided courtesy of the WBCA for this story.)